Apparently we have a momentous anniversary to mark this week. It was 75 years ago Friday that the 21st Amendment went into effect, repealing Prohibition. Evidently (according to the man with the best job in journalism) there are Repeal Day parties planned in DC, LA, NY and other cities.
No mention made of Seattle, wouldn’t you just know.
That whole Prohibition experiment is an interesting blip in American history. The major drivers behind the “dry” movement were various Protestant sects, including sundry branches of the Baptists, Methodists, Congregationalists and Presbyterians. Women were also movers and shakers, both under the aegis of the WCTU and acting independently.
The Dries finally prevailed during World War I, and the nation as a whole came under Prohibition in 1919.
It was catastrophic. Instead of purifying the country, as was the prohibitionists’ expectation, it spawned a new age of crime and gave industrial-strength gangs and the Mafia a foothold in American life.
In addition to the criminal aspect, it strained the country’s law enforcement resources greatly at the same time it eliminated a major source of income in the form of excise taxes.
All-in-all, it was a really boneheaded idea, a prime example of what happens when you let True Believers get hold of the government. (True Believers are those who are convinced they have the one, direct conduit to the Almighty. They can come in religious, ideological, political, fashion, health or culinary flavors. Because they have the inside line to the godhead, there is no room for compromise, which is anathema. We’ve seen how well this has played out in both the national and international scene for the past seven years.)
(There are still pockets of Prohibition in the country, although they’re shrinking. One that I really crack up about is that Jack Daniel’s is distilled in a dry county of Tennessee. State law requires that there be a certain critical mass of voters in order to repeal prohibition there; and the population of Moore County isn’t large enough to qualify.)
Well, but enough of all that. Although Felton’s suggestion of the “Commodore Bedroom” makes me gag, I still think we should all commemorate the event. Returning to common sense from idiocy should always be celebrated.
You’ve got a few days to prepare. Make the most of it. You can even drink to the repeal of Bushism.
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